Houzz recently confirmed raising $165 million in venture capital earlier this year – an infusion of cash they say will help fund their push into online commerce.

At its core, Houzz is a collection of interior design ideas generated by a community of designers, architects and consumers who are passionate about their homes. For brands, Houzz makes it easy to engage with potential customers who are actively considering a purchase, as well as remodelers, designers and architects who are in perpetual planning mode. Smart home brands are already capitalizing on this engaged and enthusiastic audience by uploading high quality photos, creating projects and using Ideabooks to showcase their designs and inspire their audiences.

The Houzz Marketplace

Just like the online social engagement platforms that came before, Houzz is facing the challenge of how to create a potent revenue stream for the company.

The Houzz Marketplace, launched on October 1 of this year, is their answer. The Marketplace directs interested consumers through an easy purchase of any product for any room inside or outside of the home. For each transaction, Houzz collects a 15 percent commission from merchants.

While the current Shop functionality of Houzz is a nice (and one assumes growing) feature, I wonder when, or if, it will be tied more closely to the room photos posted by users on the site. While Houzz users currently see “related products” for sale in the sidebar while surfing through rooms, direct links to buy the items featured in the photos would no doubt be a windfall for the company, and potentially for brands.

Will this functionality be included in future updates? Stay tuned.

Next Steps for Home Brands on Houzz

For now, brands should focus on what they can control – engaging with their audiences and driving the conversations and messages they want associated with their brands. And, until the Houzz marketplace catches up, there is a simple way to guide users to your own site for purchase. Just add a link.